An Unforeseen Circumstance
by Porters85
Summary: SPOILERS He did not know how long had passed since the end of the first war, but he did know the second was soon to begin. Palpatine's force essence was now on exegol and in the body of a mangled clone of himself. He had been betrayed by his own apprentice; a most unforeseen circumstance indeed. A very short first time fanfiction - will edit and may expand depending on reaction.


_How could I not have foreseen this? _The clone body's gnarled corpse like fingers twisted over the translucent tubes that had been attached into it's spine. The useless torso and legs lay dangling from the crane that hoisted him and held him in place. The Sith Acolytes that had been preparing this chamber for this very eventuality darted around him, their faces hidden as his was, behind cloaks and hoods, yellow eyes shining through the darkness occasionally. He would see they would be well rewarded for their efforts when his power returned; Palpatine thought. His milky eyes looked at them, _they at least still loyal to their emperor_, _even if the rest of the galaxy no longer was. _Around the room giant test tubes and pipes hung like gothic chandeliers, seeping out yellow smoke, covering the room in a thick smog. Darkness. Occasionally a blast of lighting would rain down from the planets atmosphere and strike the conductors that pointed skywards; a culmination of all the sith spirits laying trapped here for an eternity - that was until he had returned. Now they rested with his force spirit, in this undeniably pitiful clone. They had at least covered him in his same black robes and given him some dignity. He did not know how long had passed since the destruction of the second Death Star and with it his own destruction at the hands of his apprentice._ Ironic,_ he thought, that he was unable to foresee his own apprentice casting him down the shaft and ending his life, just as he had done to his own master many years before. _But Plageuis was something that I am not; unprepared. _As soon as his reign of Emperor began, Palpatine had spent the majority of his time delving further into dark Sith rituals, almost wholly obsessed with finding a means of extending his own life. _The Dark Side of the force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural_; he had to credit his former master with something, if it wasn't for his teachings he would not be here now, and he would not have thought to set up this stringent plan to follow through with incase he was ever caught off guard. _That would never happen,_ he used to tell himself, _I see all there is to see and be seen and I am far too powerful_. How wrong he was, how foolish he had been. _Vader, you were weak. _Here, on the Hidden sith fortress of Exegol, his many Sith acolytes and worshippers had begun preparing a clone body of himself to work as a holding vessel for his life force to return to and inhabit whilst waiting for a stronger body to take hold of. Pity that the Clone was not complete, he looked down at his hands, some fingers bony and thin, some only half resulting in a nub. A floating corpse that only half resembled himself, the mask of the Supreme Chancellor as a face rather than his scarred visage as Emperor. _This will not be for long, soon I shall have my new Empire, one that will destroy this galaxy for betraying me. The Sith will rule supreme again. _Not only had his clone body been prepared, but all throughout his reign Star destroyers had been manufactured around Exegol, a fleet of perhaps 200 or more, that were lying dormant under the waves of the Sith Planet, ready for action as soon as the time came. _And that time is now fast approaching._ He could feel it within himself, a shift in the force, his power was returning slowly, but it would not be complete until he found her. _The girl. Wherever she is._ His plans to bring her with her parents had failed. The Jedi hunter had failed him, just as Vader had done before.

But perhaps – there was another way. The boy. Skywalker. He cursed the name. Solo. A pathetic smuggler, a name of no consequence. But Both? Together in this child he knew the force dwelled stronger than before. The Grandson of Vader could perhaps finish what Vader himself could not. He sensed were he was. If he couldn't find the girl, perhaps he could find him. Perhaps the dark side would lead them both to him. But he was not yet powerful enough to reveal himself. To give up his plan would lead to certain failure. He had to be cunning. He would disguise his messages; speak to the boy as someone else. Lead him down the path he desired most. And then – strike. _Yes _Palptine thought _I can feel his anger, and his anger will lead him to me. _A new order will begin. An order which will take his galaxy back.


End file.
